Line #35 Main/SourPrudes


1	[[AliceAndBob Alice (or sometimes Bob)]] is trying a bit too hard to make herself look good at the expense of other women (and maybe men). She is claiming superiority (on the ground that she doesn't have as much sex as they do, doesn't dress immodestly they do, or something like that), SlutShaming other women (or sometimes men), and defaming their character.
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3	Often a tragic character portrayed as being overly prudish as a kind of SourGrapes: "[[CelibateHero I deny myself my sexuality]], [[ItsAllAboutMe so why don't these people do the same thing?]]". Thus "Sour Prudes". For [[TookALevelInJerkass extra irony]], Alice might be pulling the EntitledToHaveYou card, based on being such a good girl. This can be especially tragic if she lives in a society where women are economically dependent on men, making her come across as justified -- or at least as a TroubledSympatheticBigot who is only trying to survive in NoWomansLand. This is also tied to InternalizedCategorism and StopBeingStereotypical: Alice might believe that the targets of her scorn are making other women (or men) look bad, that they are the reason their whole sex does not get proper respect -- she is almost certainly wrong: the reasons for inequality go deeper than that.
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5	In some cases, this might go hand in hand with MaritalRapeLicense. For example, let's say that Alice is outraged at Charlene for saying that oral sex is okay -- and that the real reason for this outrage is that Alice fears that Charlene's opinion may encourage Alice's husband Bob to try to pressure Alice into having oral sex.
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7	''If'' this Alice has taken a vow of chastity (and she usually hasn't), she might ''also'' be a StrawmanPolitical of the sexual-religious kind. Note that a character who chose to be chaste -- without being a {{Jerkass}} about it -- is ''not'' this trope. If a character is accused of being this trope by another character, without being portrayed as such by the narrative, it counts as "[[PlayingWithATrope invoked]]" and does not go on character sheet pages.
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9	SisterTrope to SmugStraightEdge, who is similarly condescending to people who indulge in drugs, alcohol, or other such vices.
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11	Compare MyGirlIsNotASlut, InternalizedCategorism, LieBackAndThinkOfEngland, ArmouredClosetGay, HeteronormativeCrusader, SlutShaming, FemaleMisogynist, NotLikeOtherGirls, MadonnaWhoreComplex, MoralGuardians and SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny. Contrast EthicalSlut, ForHappiness and SafeSaneAndConsensual.
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13	!!Examples:
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15	[[foldercontrol]]
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17	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
18	* ''Literature/{{Haganai}}'': Yozora will assert her superiority over [[SitcomArchnemesis Sena]] by railing at any chance against her immoral behaviour (shamelessly shaking down her admirers and playing {{Eroge}} and {{Dating Sim}}s, mostly). Resident LovableSexManiac Rika actually uses this against Yozora whenever [[InsultBackfire she tries]] to pull the same attitude on her.
19	* ''Manga/OMaidensInYourSavageSeason'': Rika Sonezaki is very straight-backed and proper, mostly due to an extremely strict upbringing. She is violently opposed to any kind of sexuality and frequently decries those around them for such crimes as expressing interest in boys and wearing revealing clothing, which is made worse by her being a massive hypocrite who openly enjoys erotic literature (which is ''art'', so it doesn't count).
20	* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': Ayeka Jurai is often portrayed this way. CharacterDevelopment across any one series mitigates it somewhat, but she's always a RoyalBrat who insists on doing everything a "traditional" way, and she's not above throwing her weight around when she thinks she can get away with it.
21	* ''Manga/ToLoveRu'':
22	** Yui frequently chides other students for their "inappropriate" behavior and asserts herself to be uninterested in anything related to sex. Risa notes how hilarious it is that a prude girl like her has [[http://mangahere.co/manga/to_love_ru/v13/c115/11.html so curvy a body]].
23	** Nana. Similar to Yui's case above (in fact more than once in the manga, they're both seen criticizing Rito at the same time during his AccidentalPervert moments), though hers is slightly more downplayed compared to the former. This also makes her even more of a {{Foil}} to her LovableSexManiac sister Momo.
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26	[[folder:Comic Books]]
27	%%* ''ComicBook/BitchyBitch'' invokes this quite often. Her accusations are never portrayed as justified. Unlike her [[ComicBook/BitchyButch lesbian counterpart]], she is not portrayed as [[{{Hypocrite}} being a prude herself]].
28	* ''ComicBook/BitchyButch'' never seems to quit whining about supposedly prudish women, mostly because she's frustrated that they won't leave their boyfriends and start having sex with ''her'' instead. Ironically, it's hinted that Butchy herself has been quite the Sour Prude to her previous girlfriends (only hinted, since the stories are all told from [[UnreliableNarrator her biased perspective]] where [[NeverMyFault everything was always their fault and never hers]]).
29	* ''ComicBook/PiranhaClub'' has a male example with [[ThisLoserIsYou the protagonist]] Ernie Floyd trying a bit too hard to convince his girlfriend's father that he doesn't pose a threat to the old man's daughter.
30	* ''ComicBook/WhateverLoveMeans'' portrays this mindset as an effect of patriarchal repression: Everyone wants to have some control and having been denied any other way to power a woman's only remaining option is trying to control her own sexuality and the sexuality of others. Also, women who are not sexually repressed become a very real threat when your sexuality is the only thing you have to bargain with: Like any other market, it's a matter of supply and demand, and minimizing supply is their only way of increasing her market value.
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33	[[folder:Fan Works]]
34	* ''Fanfic/RemnantInferisDOOM'': Downplayed with Ruby. She doesn't insult anyone who either cracks sexual jokes or swears frequently, but she doesn't like it either and tends to clog her ears when they come up. She starts losing this trait the longer she fights against the forces of Hell. By the time her team and the Slayer [[spoiler:wind up in Hell]] and later escape, she's long past the ability to care.
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37	[[folder:Film]]
38	* A lot of LifetimeMoviesOfTheWeek tends to unintentionally veer into this territory, with characters who are strait-laced best friends to their promiscuous female friend. Almost the flip side to ToxicFriendInfluence.
39	* In ''Film/{{Attenberg}}'', it is established that Bella is more sexually experienced and that Marina feels inadequate. And then hardly a conversation goes by without Marina calling Bella "whore", "stupid", or (depending on the translation) either "wild animal" or "predator". Of course, this doesn't stop Marina from using Bella for advice, kissing practice, and even lending her out to her dying father (who had ''not'' asked his daughter to provide him with women) for a one-night stand.
40	* In ''Film/EasyA'', Marianne has this mindset and brings it down hard on our poor protagonist Olive (who, as we know, [[DramaticIrony is a virgin only pretending to be promiscuous]]). Meanwhile, she brags about her chaste relationship with one of the most popular guys in school...but he's [[spoiler: sleeping with the guidance counselor behind her back.]]
41	* In ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious2001'', Dom's girlfriend Letty chases off two girls hitting on Dom at the first race. Bonus points for not looking very wholesome herself. Being a story focused on {{Bromance}}, this scene mostly serves to establish women as something annoying in the background.
42	-->'''Letty''': I smell ''[sniffs]'' skanks. Why don't you ladies pack it up before I leave tread marks on your faces?
43	* In ''Film/GirlHouse'', all of the protagonist's best friend's lines are disapproving and judgemental about her choice to join the girl house.
44	* In ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', the women who hate [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Dallas]] are given no characterization or social context beyond being hateful out of pure prudishness. No hint of them feeling fear or humiliation that their husbands may be unfaithful to them and that they are at too much of a social disadvantage to dare to blame it on ''them''.
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47	[[folder:Literature]]
48	* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': Emily Brent is an elderly example. She's an old spinster who prides herself on her good Christian faith and her clean living, as well as her ability to withstand discomfort better than other people. Her crime, according to U.N. Owen is [[spoiler: firing her maid for having a baby out of wedlock, leading the woman to commit suicide. Emily initially dismisses the idea that she is responsible, claiming that her maid added one sin on top of another. However, right before she's murdered, it's made very clear that she does feel some level of culpability for her maid's death.]]
49	* PlainJane [[Series/RizzoliAndIsles Rizzoli]] is noted by her partner to almost be determined to downplay whatever attractiveness she might have in refusing to wear makeup and dressing in unflattering clothes as if this makes her better than the beautiful women that she frequently displays nothing but contempt for, often assuming that they're a bitch/tramp/idiot and that the men who fall in love with them are shallow jerks. It's really emphasized in a scene in the first book in the series where she visits a local bar and despite initially feeling uncomfortable and out of place in her frumpy pantsuit, she eventually declares the place to be "somewhere predator and prey come together", insinuating that she looks down on the better-dressed women and maybe even thinks they deserve to be assaulted because of how they look.
50	* ''Literature/ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn'' is pretty heavy on the "women treat each other worse than men treat women" idea, with the obvious example being the neighborhood women who harass and eventually stone a girl who has a baby out of wedlock. The narration explains how miserable these women's marriages are.
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53	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54	* ''Series/BigLove'': Nikki frequently displays this with an extra dose of sheer {{Hypocrisy}}. Despite clearly enjoying sex with Bill as much as his other two wives do, she often sanctimoniously chastises third wife Margene--"sex is for ''procreation'', ''not'' recreation."--even though she's secretly been taking birth control pills for years.
55	* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Both Ziva and Kate can be prudish toward Tony (not that it's all that hard to be prudish toward Tony). Caitlin Todd is also somewhat prudish towards him, despite a wild past. However, Ziva David averts this trope on a regular basis. She's not a prude to him, she's just not sailing on that particular ship, apparently.
56	* ''Series/NoahsArc'': Chance has moments of this, often to Eddie's dismay.
57	* ''Series/{{The Office\|US}}'': Angela. She also [[spoiler:had an affair with [[FanDisservice Dwight]] while engaged to [[DoggedNiceGuy Andy]], and again after marrying the Senator, making her a full-fledged StrawHypocrite]].
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60	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
61	* Wrestling/{{Ivory}}, especially after she joined Wrestling/RightToCensor.
62	* Wrestling/MollyHolly is not the page image because she says you perverted TV Tropers don't deserve to see her virgin body!
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65	[[folder:Web Comics]]
66	* ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'' occasionally portrayed EthicalSlut Jodie being treated like this by her female classmates, with one strip having two girls claim that being virgins made them better than her.
67	* In ''Webcomic/SabrinaOnline'', Zig-Zag sometimes (jokingly, one should hope) calls Sabrina a prude because she refuses to become a porn star and because she can sometimes get embarrassed.
68	* ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'': Ruby takes this role, moderated by her youth, nervousness, and BrokenBird status (as she's rather stuck playing TheIngenue in a SexComedy). She's really just a mild case, only habitually applying her prudishness to herself and her sister Amber, with whom she has a lot of messy issues (''you'' try being with classmates who know your older sister is a porn star...). Despite an early {{heteronormative\|Crusader}} outburst inside her head, she ends up advising CampGay Dillon on his love life without judging him for having sex with multiple men (worth noting she later discovers she's a YaoiFangirl). She might merely be classed as TheComicallySerious.
69	* ''Webcomic/TheManorsPrize'': [[IceQueen Ice Queen]] Chariot constantly puts down Hanged Man (the comic's resident [[MsFanservice Ms. Fanservice]]) for her dress and behavior.
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72	[[folder:Western Animation]]
73	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Inverted in one episode, where Lois moralizes over teenage abstinence. Her argument is not that teenagers should be empowered to make their own choices; instead, she preaches that abstaining from sex is "just wrong". In other words, the show inverts the "SexIsEvil" stance for laughs. The message of the episode as a whole was criticizing abstinence-only education that uses scare tactics. At the end of the show, Lois did give a nice speech where she told the students that they shouldn't have sex until they're ready. And if/when they do, to please 'use a condom'.
74	* The original ''WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}}'' novel has an old cat named Deep Purple believe himself to be above "such sultry things", and the same holds true in the original German dub. But the English dub kind of avoids this by Bluebeard explaining that Deep Purple was just too old to mate anymore.
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Context Main / SourPrudes